Is Clonazepam easing my Imovane taper?

[[Fl...]]

Hi, all. My GP ultimately wants me off of all my drugs, all of which were prescribed by the shrink I fired. I saw him on Wednesday and because I’m on 1.5 tablets of the blue Imovane, we decided to cut it to 1.25 tablets so I can get rid of it. I lowered it last night, woke up and took my usual cocktail including the 0.5 mg clonazepam at 11 am. Around 1 pm I started to feel completely awful. Mad anxiety for no reason, sweating, terror, etc. About half an hour ago I took the next 0.5 mg of my daily clonazepam and now I feel fine. I know that Imovane is classified as a Z drug and acts as a benzo. Is it possible that the clonazepam is easing the withdrawal from the Imovane which only has a half-life of five hours? I feel like myself again. I won’t be tapering the clonazepam until I’m off my Seroquel but maybe I can use it to get off the Imovane. My doctor has a patient who’s in the late stages of Imovane-induced dementia (his patient has been taking it for two decades) and that’s the last place I want to end up. 
 

(did I post this in the right place?)

[[je...]]

Hi @[Fl...]

Generally when people are on true benzo's as well as Z-drugs we recommend they taper the Z-drug first exactly for the reason you've mentioned. The longer half lives of benzo's theoretically has the ability to cushion some of the withdrawal from Z-drugs. My suggestion would therefore be to get off Imovane first and then the Clonazepam.

[[Fl...]]

Oh, thank god. Well, I guess I’ll work on the Imovane. Today was mildly terrifying.

[[je...]]

I don't have personal experience with Z drugs, but from what I hear, it can be pretty uncomfortable.

[[Fl...]]

It’s the suddenly wave of terror and sweating that gets me. It came completely out of nowhere. I couldn’t concentrate on anything and was just lying in bed kicking my legs to try to get it to stop when the timer went off for me second benzo of the day. Twenty minutes later I was back to my normal self. Hopefully this is a one time event with each reduction.

[[Fl...]]

Hey, everyone. I want to try tapering my Zopiclone. I’ve gotten it down to a single 7.5 mg tablet I take at bedtime. I’ve been on one and a half tablets for about three years. The Ashton manual suggests switching it to diazepam and reducing that. Is that really necessary? I was going to have my zopiclone compounded into liquid and just taper off of it a milligram every few weeks. I also don’t want to end up in more withdrawal hell but I’m not sure what I should do. Any suggestions?

[[PE...]]

5 hours ago, [[F...] said:

Hey, everyone. I want to try tapering my Zopiclone. I’ve gotten it down to a single 7.5 mg tablet I take at bedtime. I’ve been on one and a half tablets for about three years. The Ashton manual suggests switching it to diazepam and reducing that. Is that really necessary? I was going to have my zopiclone compounded into liquid and just taper off of it a milligram every few weeks. I also don’t want to end up in more withdrawal hell but I’m not sure what I should do. Any suggestions?

Hi!

I can only talk for myself. If you have not had any interdose withdrawals between doses i wouldn’t change to a longer acting benzo. My first benzo/z drugs was zopiclone and I actually hadn't any problems just stop taking it.

I had insomnia a few nights but that was it! It's a good thing it's short acting because it has time to leave the system between doses. Doing a taper would of course be even better

 

[[Fl...]]

Thanks for the reply. I’ve had minor interdose withdrawal from the zopiclone but not like the horrible one from the Seroquel. I don’t want to add a second benzo to get off the one I’m already on and need to taper just to get off the zopiclone so I think I’ll compound it and go down maybe a milligram a week or so. Unless someone has something else to add. :)

[[PE...]]

2 minutes ago, [[F...] said:

Thanks for the reply. I’ve had minor interdose withdrawal from the zopiclone but not like the horrible one from the Seroquel. I don’t want to add a second benzo to get off the one I’m already on and need to taper just to get off the zopiclone so I think I’ll compound it and go down maybe a milligram a week or so. Unless someone has something else to add.

Good luck

[[Fl...]]

Thanks!

[[je...]]

Generally we recommend you taper the drug you are on unless you are struggling badly with interdose withdrawal. I think in your case it will be best to stick to the Zopiclone. 

[[Fl...]]

Okay, good to know. I didn’t want to add another benzo to my mix. I’ll have it compounded and do the 10% reduction protocol, unless you guys have a better one for zopiclone.

thanks for the reply